Monday, September 22, 2008

Oh, There Goes That Darn Caitalism Again..

I don't blame Democrats, in an election year, for jumping on every bad piece of news in the world and trying to spin that to their advantage. It's just the smart thing to do. However, on the issue of the economy, specifically the recent financial meltdown, and proposed bailout package, I would tread lightly. Because as soon as they start pointing fingers they're quickly going to find that they're pointing back at themselves.

This whole mess was a creation of the government, broadly, and more specifically, leftist policies and laws. And now these same people who created the mess are running around decrying the evils of capitalism and how badly it has failed us here. When in reality capitalism didn't fail us because, when it comes to the financial system, and these financial institutions, a free market hasn't been in place for quite some time. No, these failures are the results of government intrusion INTO the free market.

The best illustration of this is the Community Reinvestment Act passed under Carter which forced lenders to loan to poor people, regardless of their ability to pay off these loans. And if banks didn't make these loans, then that would be held against them if they ever chose to merge. That was the leverage government held over the market, making it a not-so-free market. Do you really think any sane person operating a business, under a truly capitalistic system, would loan money to people who couldn't pay it back, absent governmental coercion? Of course not.

So what happens when Banks and lenders make loans to people who can't afford them? Well, as long as the market is going up, there's no immediate problem as the people can refinance and use the equity in their house to pay their mortgage, and keep doing this. It doesn't take a genius to see that this is a house built on quicksand. A house of cards waiting to crumble. And now it has, as every intelligent person with any foresight knew was going to happen.

So thanks to the quasi-socialists laws and practices put into place by Democratic lawmakers, politicians and bureaucrats, we now are faced with this problem. And the government is having to fix a government created problem with MORE government infiltration and regulation. See the common thread here? Any recurring them you're noticing? A certain word popping out? That's right. Government. That which we need less of and not more of. The source of our problems, not the cure of them. The government that Barack Obama will tell you flat out he plans to expand hugely.

And, even with all this being the case, you still have liberal Democrats, with Obama out in front, out there claiming this is a result of the Bush administrations failed economic policies. Note that he can't logically connect any specific policy to this meltdown, because there is no connection. He just speaks in vague terms about the 'failed Republican economic policies'. Meanwhile, it can be directly show that his own party are the architects of this disaster. The irony is thick. Wise up, people. The question is a lot more complex than "durr, something bad happened while Bush was in office, must be his fault, du-hur". Think.